Here's to good friends...tonight is kinda special.....

I've known my best friend for nearly 17 years.

As friendships go, this one has obviously stood the test of time, temperament and anything else that has been thrown at it. There is no one I can count on more ( my wife and immediate family notwithstanding) for anything in the world.. She's been with me through this latest health crisis, ( and has some really lovely photos of a anesthetized me to blackmail me with at some point....and we have had numerous misadventures over time. When she's out on a business trip, she calls in for morning coffee whenever she can.
So, even though there have been many people in my life that I have weeded out and who have fallen away for one reason or another, this one remains..
Every Sunday now we get together for our "L Word" viewing.. It used to be Xena, our favorite butt kicking gal that would gather us at all hours of the day and night, and sometimes still does, but we always try to get together and have game night or watch a movie.. ( I can still remember the game night where we had been watching Xena on Oxygen and it was followed by "Talk Sex" with Sue Johannsen, a show we had never seen before, and while I was standing in front of the TV doing my charades bit, I happened to turn and Sue was holding the largest sex toy I had ever seen.. we all fell over in laughter and then were strangely silent watching this grandmother talk about multiple orgasms and other topics.. It was quite a sight!
We have had some fun..
We once stayed up almost all night watching a "brady bunch" marathon and played a game that we created where we tried to guess which episode it was in the first couple of minutes of the show, by the dialogue. Or late night "Silence of the Lambs" viewings.. as we both enjoyed watching Jodie Foster.
I often wonder if other people have good friends like that.. someone that they can talk about anything with.. and who aren't afraid to be honest with each other, even if it isn't what you want to hear.. I don't want "yes women" in my life.. there are plenty of those around for the picking..
I'm talking quality people.. Grade A folk..

This past week she has been secretly working on some sort of surprise for my wife and I.. for the life of me I couldn't figure out what.. until last night..
Knowing how much my wife and I enjoy having a nice fire in the fireplace on cold nights, normally I have a cord of wood delivered to the house before the winter.. This year, since I was recovering from the big spine replacment, I really just forgot to do it..
So when my wife called last night to tell me that someone had been to our house and left almost two cords of split firewood alongside the stack, It took me only a second to figure out who it could have been. After all I knew that whatever it was that she was doing was pretty physical as she was exhausted.. but I had no idea that she had cut a whole oak tree down and split it so that next winter we would have all the wood we would ever need.

How many people would do that for you?

I can count on one finger how many people would do that for me..

There are few people in this world that you can truly count on .. I am glad to say that she is one of those people in my life.. and I know that she knows I am the same in her life as well.

Thanks bud.. you probably don't really know how very much you are loved and appreciated.. but you are.. and I am very happy to call you my friend and that you are in my life. I couldn't ask for a better friend.. Love you man!

So, party at my house next winter.. complete with a roaring fire! I'm making dinner!